This applicator for cosmetic products relates to sampling devices and more specifically to an improved card for applying lipstick. A unique aspect of the present applicator is a raised field that shears and collects a sample of a cosmetic.
People have adorned themselves with perfumes, colognes, powders, mascaras, and other cosmetics for centuries. Samples of a cosmetic encourage more sales to discriminating customers. The counter, where the customer may purchase, remains the most effective place to promote cosmetics. Often, retailers and suppliers of cosmetics provide free samples to entice women. However, women approach some cosmetic products skeptically, like lipstick. Women only buy lipstick after sampling it to judge its desirability. Women also know of the health risks in sampling a lipstick from a common sampler. Multiple uses of a cosmetic sampler invite customer complaints. Sampling a lipstick from a common tube by more than one person has become socially and medically frowned upon. Many women insist upon sampling from an unopened tube of lipstick or sample on their hand to avoid medical problems.
To overcome the health risks in cosmetic sampling, the cosmetic industry has made miniature versions of tubes and other cosmetic dispensers. The miniature versions remain subject to contamination at the retail counter. Further, cosmetic suppliers still incur the cost of producing and distributing the miniature samples for each of the color or product line variations. In addition, cosmetic suppliers and retailers have tried cotton swabs that dab from a common cosmetic source, sample sticks, and test strips. These alternatives when used commercially caused messes, inconvenienced customers, and proved ineffective.
Beyond test strips, tubes, and pencils, the cosmetic industry seeks an inexpensive applicator for applying a cosmetic sample to skin in a single stroke. Presently, cosmetics such as lipstick have individual applicators that indirectly place lipstick upon the lips of a woman. When applied, the lipstick sample should have the same texture, feel, and characteristics regardless of the applicator. Because of the goal for similarity between a sample and the lipstick for sale, applicators usually are miniature tubes or brushes despite other possibilities.
The U.S. patent to Wallschlaeger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,913, describes a lipstick applicator of a base support, that does not absorb dry solids and liquids, and a coating of lipstick of 5 mils or less. The base support is not a tube or brush, as is commonly associated with lipstick but rather a planar sheet. The lipstick coating is applied to the base support using screen printing methods. The base support may have a cover thereupon to protect the coating from handling.
The U.S. patent to Wallschlaeger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,408, then describes a two ply cosmetic sampler. Wallschlaeger's sampler has projections extending upwardly from the base ply where gravity and friction retain the cosmetic within the projections and upon the base ply. Wallschlaeger presents the sampler as a separate stand alone device loaded with a cosmetic beneath a cover upon the projections of the bottom ply. In use, Wallschlaeger's sampler has the top ply detach, similar to a cover, and separate from the bottom ply so the consumer can use the top ply as an applicator of cosmetic retained in the bottom ply and when finished, the top ply is disposed. In contrast, the present invention has individual separated bosses or projections upon the bottom ply without a cosmetic sample loaded thereon.
Wallschlaeger places a series of projections 3 almost entirely through the surface of the card 15, and then the cosmetic layer of lipstick is deposited thereupon, in the shape of the lips as shown at 19 and 20. The lips shape indicates that when the lipstick cosmetic sample is applied, it is applied in the shape of lips to the shown card 15, even though the series of projections 3 extend throughout the entire surface of the card. Wallshclaeger arranges the projections in a pattern of repeating diagonal line across the fold line, nearly across the width of the base support. When Wallschlaeger folds the base support, the lines of projections intersect, spacing apart the halves of the cosmetic sample. Hence, the minimal guidance in Wallschlaeger as to how the lipstick is to be applied includes attempting to apply it to the series of projections upon the surface of the card and in the shape of a pair of lips.
As can be seen from the Applicants' invention, and as described, the present invention only includes the raised field 3 in the shape of the lips, and excludes a cosmetic sample packaged with the applicator. Here, an applicator is withdrawn from a supply of the same, the applicator is the dragged across a bulk lipstick source, and the lipstick only retains within the raised field, shaped as upper and lower lips. This usage of the present invention therefore, provides guidance as to the application of the lipstick, to the applicator, only in the portion where needed. The present invention retains the suitable amount of lipstick for a sample application by a woman, and does not use excessive lipstick, or less than needed, within the shape of the lips provided upon the applicator through the raised field 3.
Furthermore, Wallschlaeger provides the projections in the base support while the present invention includes one or more laminated sub-plies which form the raised pattern in the shape of the upper and lower lips of the user. The present invention also provides notches upon the side edges or perimeter of the card where Wallschlaeger does not. Once the applicator has been used, it can be reverse folded to close the card and the lipstick applied raised areas are now on the interior of the card. The peripheral notches on the card then conceal the remaining lipstick, and prevent its accidental application, or staining, to some other area or unauthorized contact after usage.
And, the U.S. Pat. No. to Soughan U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,138 provides a train of envelopes in roll form that dispense pre-moistened towelettes. The notches of Soughan are identified as the hook or catch 30, that sever the sections 16 of the formed envelopes as they are pulled from the roll 10. The notches 6 provided within Applicants' design have a very specific purpose, locking the folded card, which is just not mentioned in Soughan.
The present art overcomes the limitations of the prior art. That is, in the art of the present invention, a single use applicator for cosmetic products, receives lipstick from a common bulk container but allows each woman to sample the lipstick individually.
The difficulty in providing a removable sampler is shown by the operation of a typical product sample at a cosmetics counter, or department store. The prior art communicates the shade and texture of a particular lipstick. However, most cosmetic suppliers produce about 150 shades of lipstick, making individual counter display and sampling impractical and expensive. Cosmetic suppliers have invested heavily in sampling lipstick tubes and two-ply applicators in use at counters around the world. In addition, lipsticks have a variety of formulae differing in shelf life and compatibility. Lipstick formulae require testing for sample stability during shipping and handling to a retail store. During testing, some samples may render a formula incompatible and deter marketing of a formula. The logistics and expense of testing pose obstacles to cosmetic vendors, raising the cost and time involved in a sampling program. The two ply construction of the prior art—base and cover—, the compatibility and stability testing, shelf space requirements, and packaging make existing applicators more expensive to use in a sampling program.
Embossing in prior art patents, serving as stilting, protects a cosmetic material, or lipstick, between the base ply and the top cover ply. The present invention merely serves as an aid to shear lipstick from a tube. The present invention allows the use of one common card by a woman for all the shades she seeks to sample. The present invention reduces the need for numerous preprinted shade cards. As the woman samples the lipstick immediately after applying it to the present invention, stability and compatibility concerns of the lipstick do not arise.
The present invention overcomes the difficulties of the prior art. The applicator for cosmetic products has a single ply for ease of manufacturing and alternatively, multiple plies. At a display counter, the present invention is easier to use and has less shipping, manufacturing, and storage costs. Combined with lipstick and other sampling components presently at cosmetics' counters, the applicator for cosmetic products readily integrates into existing sampling programs.